Hike Description

The 5.8-mile trek along the Pacific Crest Trail into Jefferson Park is one of Oregon’s most coveted hikes. Both the journey and the destination are truly spectacular.

Jefferson Park is a flat basin at the bottom of Mount Jefferson’s north side. It’s a lush valley situated in a protected bowl with the glaciated stratovolcano on one side and the 6,900-foot Park Ridge on the other. Known for its stunning display of wildflowers in late summer and its numerous subalpine lakes, the park captivates outdoor enthusiasts of all types, be they PCT through-hikers, casual explorers, or photographers hoping to snap the perfect shot.

Access into Jefferson Park can be gained either from the north via Jefferson Ridge, the trailhead at Breitenbush Lake, or from the west via Sentinel Hills and NF-2243 (also roughly 5.8 miles one-way).

When accessing the park from the north there are basically two schools of thought:

The first approach is to hit the trail around late July to experience the peak of the wildflower bloom, with thick meadows of common red paintbrush, the white petals of western pasque flower, and the ubiquitous deep violet bulbs of countless alpine lupine. The downside of this early entry is that snow fields are likely on the top of Jefferson Ridge, making the route along the PCT difficult to navigate. Luckily, tall cairns are strung along the trail above tree line, and you’ll likely need to follow them closely. Once at the top of the ridge, should you lose the trail, simply pick up the trail by descending/traversing east-bound.

The second approach is to get into Jefferson Park more toward late August/early September to avoid navigating the snowfields of Jefferson Ridge. Timing can vary based on snowfall the previous winter, but typically waiting this long will ensure a nearly ‘dry’ entry. Although most of the lupine will have dropped their flowers and sprouted their pea pods by this point, numerous other wildflower should still be present, including magenta paintbrush, cascade aster, pearly everlasting, white-topped western bistort, and explorer's gentian. You’ll also still find common western monkeyflower and Lewis’s monkeyflower lining the stream banks.

As an alternate route, consider the roughly 2-mile detour that ascends to the top of 6,095-foot Pyramid Butte. The old Skyline Trail can be difficult to find, but views from the top of this jagged outcropping are worth the additional mileage. When considered independently, the climb to the top of Pyramid Butte makes for a relatively easy, 3.4 mile round-trip day hike.

Note: If you are driving in from Olallie Lake, note that the section of road between Horseshoe and Breitenbush Lake (roughly 2 miles) is very rough, and a high clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle is recommend. Backcountry camping within 250 feet of Jefferson Park’s lakes is only permitted at signed, designated campsites. Thirty sites around five lakes are available, and reservations are required between Memorial Day and October 1; these can be made at recreation.gov starting May 1. You may camp in a pre-existing campsite outside of the 250-foot designated area if all campsites are reserved.

07.10.17

Make sure you bring use a 4X4 with plenty of clearance. The last 3 or 4 miles are extremely rough and take about an hour to drive. Consider it fair warning, if you drive a sedan to this trailhead, you have a high probability of bottoming out multiple times and damaging your vehicle. Also, going North to South, it very easy to get lost in the snow fields if you go early in the season.

Make sure you bring use a 4X4 with plenty of clearance. The last 3 or 4 miles are extremely rough and take about an hour to drive. Consider it fair warning, if you drive a sedan to this trailhead, you have a high probability of bottoming out multiple times and damaging your vehicle. Also, going North to South, it very easy to get lost in the snow fields if you go early in the season.

10.02.16

09.06.13

We did a back pack trip through Jefferson Park beginning at the Pamelia Lake trailhead. We spent the night at Scout Lake before a beautiful walk through Jefferson Park. The stunning views of Jefferson will leave you gasping and asking yourself, "Is this even real?" We ended our journey at Olallie lake the following day after spending another night at Upper Lake. I highly recommend the trip we did though, next time, we will add another day to do it so we have more time to enjoy "park" itself.

07.27.16

I did this at the end of July with my wife, mid-week.

What a beautiful hike. The drive after the Ollalie lake resort is certainly difficult but I was able to make it with a 2010 Subaru Outback without much difficulty, just have to go slow. I would say that I was more concerned about getting a flat than bottoming out and I wish I had brought a full size spare, but thankfully did not need it. Make sure your gas tank is full if you're heading in from Portland - it's a long remote drive.

For the hike itself, route finding was bad this time of year heading into the park and in the middle of the week we actually saw very few people. I would definitely recommend going up to Pyramid Butte as a side hike, it was doable and we enjoyed the view.

*We had great difficulty finding the camp site we reserved - I did not realize there was a reservation system until we saw the sign at the top of the ridge, and I used spotty internet connection from up there to make a reservation then lost signal. I ended up not being able to find the campsite, and pitched up at another site. They are numbered but good luck finding your particular site especially near the cluster of lakes away from Russel lake. Once you are in the park there are many trails, most of which are not labeled and you won't get lost but you also won't find anything. Make sure you take the GPS coordinates for your particular site!!!

Otherwise it's paradise in there. Wander around and enjoy but don't trample the wildflowers.

07.27.16

07.30.16

Easily one of the most jaw dropping hikes I've ever been on. We started at Breitenbush Lake campground and turned around at the top of the ridge. Getting to the trailhead at Breitenbush lake requires four-wheel drive and some clearance, but if you can make it it's worth it because the road weeds out the unworthy and unwilling. Even on a sunny Saturday there weren't many others on the trail, and more than half were PCT hikers.

We will definitely be returning, doing a weekend backpacking trip down to the lakes area is now at the top of my list.

10.04.14

05.09.16

Camping is permitted in designated sites only.
Designated campsites within 250 feet of a lake requires a reservation through reservation.gov. 30 sites around 5 lakes will be available. A reservation is required between Memorial day and October 1st with May 1st being the day reservations open.
You may camp in a pre-existing campsite outside of the 250 feet designated area if all campsites are reserved.

05.09.16

Camping is permitted in designated sites only.
Designated campsites within 250 feet of a lake requires a reservation through reservation.gov. 30 sites around 5 lakes will be available. A reservation is required between Memorial day and October 1st with May 1st being the day reservations open.
You may camp in a pre-existing campsite outside of the 250 feet designated area if all campsites are reserved.